A Texas rancher who was inspecting some newly acquired land was shocked to discover a two-acre marijuana farm operating in an isolated corner of his property.
Chambers County, Texas sheriffs were called after the rancher found the pot farm on land he had recently leased from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The rancher said that when he came across the two cultivated acres, two men fled as he approached.
“When deputies arrived at the clearing,” ABC reported, “they discovered 5,500 marijuana plants with a street value of about $2 million.”
Sheriff Brian Hawthorne of Chambers County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News, “The most impressive thing of it was that it was a pretty elaborate growing operation.”
“There’s no doubt they understood the principles of what it was going to take to create a watering system [and] the environment that they needed to have so as to start the marijuana plants from a seedling,” the officer said.
Authorities had no idea if the pot farmers were involved with a larger organization, but it seems likely.
The marijuana scene in the U.S. is getting rather complicated with so many states legalizing weed. But the legalization does not necessarily cut out the criminal element.
For instance, earlier this year in Colorado, one pot sales shop was shut down for ties to a Colombian drug cartel.
Still, legalization in the U.S. has caused some Mexican cartels to find that illegal pot sales are so low that it isn’t worth the time to plant the crop. Instead, the cartels are investing more in drugs like heroin.
While many states are looking toward legalizing pot, Texas is not. During the February 23 broadcast of State of the Union, Governor Perry gave a quick and firm “no” to CNN’s Candy Crowley when she asked about legalizing pot.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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